The journey of Ethiopian migrants to the UK through the smuggling practice

• In Event: Criminology of Mobility. Panel 2. Migratory routes of people on the move.

Abstract

The conventional definition for Migration smuggling is by UNODC (2010) as "The procurement, to obtain, directly or indirectly, financial or other material benefits, of the illegal entry of a person into a state of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident". Nevertheless, this study buys the theoretical view of Triandafyllidou and Maroukis (2012) for smuggling, which considers the practice a socio-economic business or a social organisation. This is important as the practice is embedded within the community and needs a more nuanced and complex view (Raineri, 2021). This way, the smuggling network from Ethiopia to the UK through Sudan, Libya, Italy and other European routes has been explored. The data captured using an in-depth interview with Ethiopian migrants in the UK reveals a deeper understanding of who the smugglers are, and a category, namely conventional smugglers, Forced smugglers, migrants but smugglers, and smuggling myself, came into the picture. Moreover, the study reveals how the practice intersects with human trafficking in this route as kidnapping by mafia groups, migrants being sold and bought among smuggling groups and within the Libyan community like slavery, paying prison guards for freedom, forced marriage, and forced labour are highlighted in the finding. This signifies that there are two types of actors in the smuggling business, i.e. active agents of the smuggling network and those who take advantage of its availability, such as mafia groups, communities of transit countries, migrants communities, and prison and border security officials. This clarifies that addressing the issue should go beyond dismantling organised smuggler groups.

Author

• Addsialem Bekele Abebe, Wolverhampton University